CHAPTER 1

Synecdoche's POV.

"The dictionary is simply our universe arranged in Alphabetical order. Let the letters let you, Synecdoche Rochet. Remember why you are here," Coach Medrano reminded me for the last time as he inserted the golden wheat leaves in my hair that symbolized our identity.

"Go. Grow. Glow," I said, clenching my fist, scrunching fingers like cannonballs. I know that there are hidden cameras inside here in Mahar's Launch Room. 

"What do you mean?" Coach Medrano asked hat is off. 

"The prize," I whispered. I wonder why he's with me right now. I wonder why the Embassy gave each tribute a chamber. I hope Ulap, Token, Keithwarth, and Vani will stick to our plan for the final stage of the competition. We haven't seen each other today but we're prepared to spell words. We're trained enough.

I boldly faced my Coach and said, "I want that ruthless Ambassador Hugo Cassidy to go. I want our grainfield to grow back from being burned, I want the entire nation to glow. I want light. We want light but they gave us fire so we will keep it burning! The ashes are the signs... of their poor governance."

"Be careful to those tributes from A to Z. Stick with the G's. We don't know the final round." He finally inserted the last wheat leaf in my bun hair.

"No word in the dictionary can explain how that astute hard-headed sperm came into life! That demon could have been splashed on the wall." I watched our reflection on the mirror and said our mantra, "We are Maharlikas, we belong to Grass, we are not a trash, give freedom to us."

The Launch Rooms are in the catacombs under the so-called Word Arena and are accessed by traversing many underground passages after descending a ladder from the hovercraft that takes tributes to the arena. These passages are presumably labyrinthine in nature in order to prevent tributes from meeting each other under the arena.

When Coach Medrano went out of the Launch rooms, I saw a map. The Map of Maharlika Nation.

1 Nation, divided by 26 districts from A to Z. Only 1 district shall remain inside the Word arena. A competition of a lifetime. In which the letters will let them be. In which life will be the price and the prize. 

The Maharlika Nation has 26 outlying districts and one federal district called Mahar, the capital of Maharlika. Our nation is divided separately and alphabetically from A to Z with corresponding industries. All are controlled by the terrifying power of the Embassy and are subjects to the unrelenting will of its authority. We have no known influence concerning the national politics of Maharlika beyond our

 territories.

There's a folklore that our nation was completely connected before, but it seemed that the earth opened up some small holes in spacetime and asteroids entered our mineral extraction facilities on Earth. The path had been set for millennia; the time of humanity's final test set by the cosmos. The only chance of avoidance, for survival, to escape, was for the dominant abilities on earth to cooperate in ways we had never seen before. The 30-kilometer wide rock wasn't going to be persuaded to move by just a few missiles. As they hit the earth, near southeast Asia, from where there are bold mountain ranges, archetypes of symmetrical active stratovolcanoes, surrounded by three prominent bodies, the Maharlika Nation... became an archipelago which was divided into 26 districts.

A- Agriculture

B- Beverage

C- Coal

D- Defense

E- Electricity

F- Fishing

G- Grains

H- Holography

I- Ice

J- Jingle

K- Knitting

L- Law

M- Medicine

N- Nature

O- Owl Hunting

P- Publishing

Q- Quest

R- Robotics

S- Security

T- Transportation

U- Unemployed

V- Vandalism

W- Weaponry

X- Xylography

Y- Youth

Z- Zoology

All of our districts should interact with each other to give the needs of the nation. We are expected to provide economic and material services in exchange for protection provided by the Embassy's armies called Manjies. Years of oppression faced by each district led to the start of the civil war and the Embassy took advantage of each districts' industry.

Hugo Cassidy, the Ambassador, of Maharlika, ordered that every district must find the top 5 most brilliant juveniles ages 15 to 20 as the tributes and will represent their district on the 2nd Maharlika Spelling TwistBee and send them to the Word Arena.  That's why we are here—we only want the prize and our freedom back in each district. Defend our valuable resources. But I have a feeling that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg and something strange is ahead of us.

"Welcome to the Word Arena, Welcome again to the 2nd Maharlika Spelling Twistbee!" 

I heard the voice of Mikey the pronouncer on a microphone as I bolt and launched from a tribute tube, a glass cylinder that contains the Launch Plate, a metal disk that ascends from the launch room into the arena. All tributes are launched at the same time, in a circle that surrounds the so-called Patag, which lies in the center of the circle.

I covered my eyes because the sunlight almost blinded me as I rise. As the disk stops, I can see all the tributes standing on the same platform as mine with our seals attached to it.

"Are you okay, Synec?" Vani asks. He's five feet away from where I am standing. In his presence, I can still see his brown-gold eyes locked on mine. His face is all broad planes and rough angles—as solid as brambled oak, softening only for me. Vani is still with me. He looks fine, and I'm fine because he's fine. We're still in the competition. 

I nodded. "Do you have any idea of the next stage?" He just reaches his hand to me like he wants to hold me but he's far enough. "Tell me."

"I want to hold you, Synecdoche," he said, looking softly.

"You can't, Giovanni. Manjies are watching us. Don't do such awful things or else they will shoot us. Not now. Surveillance is on."

"Woah, not now, ha. Maybe soon? Okay, I got a pen, here." I bowled over when I heard Pen.

Pen. I looked around to see Pen, my book author idol. G's platform was far from P's. I can't believe he joined the competition.

"Hey, I said I got a pen here. Look what I've written on my chest." I saw his chest again since the day rainfall drops on his skin. He wrote 'Not Now' on it. "Come on, just try to pass me some energy— I mean, some imaginary ability of yours. I'm jealous, you can imagine those letters from the dictionary when you close your eyes." Vani holds out his hand, a wicked look in his eyes.

"You scammed me before, Vani and you have the audacity to tell me to pass energy to you? What kind of energy was that?" We've been together since the preliminary competition. He got a sharp mind, pretty tongue but I did not forget it.

"You still remember it? My banana bell?"

I faced him, I want to step out and touch him. No. Push him rather. "Of course! How could you force me to sell your banana bell in Grass University when trade and commerce are forbidden in our district?"

He told me a deal before that whoever goes first in the school will have a consequence even though we have classes to attend. I don't want him to beat me so he presented me his Puso or banana bell. He told me that his bag was full and he wanted me to sell it for him even though it is forbidden in our district. 

He then left and ran inside the school and his banana bell was left in my hand so I was forced to sell it for him but an unexpected encounter left us hanging because it was gone the time I fell out of the well. When I woke up that time, I got money and I did not remember someone bought it from me. I gave him the money but he still got a consequence!

"Look at your arm. We have couple tattoos." Vani told me, checking his arm and I do the same. It's a black letter tattoo. An elegant script letter G tattoo, giving off a cool, nonchalant vibe. "All the tributes have their tattoos, too."

G for Grass, our district. Home of farmers, supplier of grains, and our district are one of the poorest districts, surveillance cameras are everywhere, trade and commerce are forbidden, no freedom, no right to eat our cultivated grains even half of it. No electricity, no light. I never forgot it and I'll never forget it... how the Embassy treated us.

"Yes, I think I have an idea!" It's Ulap, my best friend, dancing, jumping up and down like her bird friends. She's on the left side of me. I forgot my teammates. Vani wasn't just with me, they're still with me. The five of us. 

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't step away from the platform, you all stand straight, chin up, they're watching us. Focus!" The perfectionist Token warned Ulap. 

"I-I c-can't h-hear y-you a-all. Sh-share your pl-plans, pl-please." Keithwarth is suffering from his speaking disorder, again. We almost lost the previous stages of the spelling bee because of him, but we can't blame him. We are still here... together... fighting for our district and still have the chance to get the prize. 

"...The prize will be tangible or intangible things that start with the letter of your district," I remember what the ruthless Ambassador Hugo Cassidy told us during the welcome ceremony last time.

G.

District G.

Go, Grow, Glow.

"The previous rounds were full of exciting events. Now, we're up for the final round! Band together with your teams because the competition is set to lash the Word Arena. One hundred thirty brilliant juveniles from Districts A to Z are conspired to see each other on the 2nd Maharlika Spelling Twistbee. Our nation is simply a dictionary arranged in Alphabetical order and you need to find your purpose, your meaning to function."

"Are you ready?" I heard Vani, again. "Don't be afraid, we will get the prize." 

The pronouncer continues, "1 nation, 26 Districts, 26 industries, 1 competition, 130 tributes, 5 tributes each district and only 1 district will win. For the final round, All 130 tributes will be sent to the Word Arena for a month."

Everyone was in a commotion. Token and Ulap shouted and protested. Keithwarth can't utter any word while Vani, talks to me. "A month? For sure this will be exciting. We'll be together." All his words were clear to me. "The five of us." 

The five of us, not the both of us. That's... somehow good. I am not expecting anything from him.

"There are hidden cameras inside the arena and everything will be televised. That is why there are what we called Bidders watching you all in Mahar." 

Why does there are bidders? Is money involved here? Will they take advantage again? 

"The bidders are the ones to pick their desired words to be spelled based on their bets. The more money a bidder bids, the more he or she can control the Spelling Bee."

What the f*ck is going on? We are behind the top lists of the previous game! Who will bet on us? This is unfair! 

Mikey continues, "Each district will represent 1 letter in the Alphabet, you have inked letter tattoos on your arms as indicators because you will spell the given English word not verbally but by beating other competitors to be eliminated. The final round is too far from the previous rounds because it is a battle royale game where competitors should have a great memory, wide English vocabulary, and the ability to follow orders. The major rules are to Spell and beat.

Each word will last within 3 days and there will be another word for the next 3 days, and tributes should beat all the letters. The tributes were divided into two classes, the Spells; the tributes aligned to the spelling of the word of the day, and Beats; those who were not included and the ones who will eliminate the Spells. In the arena, there were life kit boxes. They contain food, water, medicine, flashlight, and others for survival, protection, healing, the bidders might give you special boxes if you impress them but before you can get it, you need to verbally spell the word that the programmable box uttered."

"For the word of the day, if you know the spelling, you will know if you are a Spell or a Beat. If you don't know the spelling, you should protect yourselves and your teammates because you don't know who is after your life. Each wrong letter is equivalent to one life in your district. Be careful who to beat, and remember when to beat. The winning district will be granted any three wishes tangible or intangible that start with the letter of their district. Familiarize all the words, their origins, definitions, and etymologies in the English Dictionary because each letter of the given words is equivalent to a single life. "

The widescreen above went black and Mikey was out of sight. We can still hear Mikey's voice warning us, giving us advice on how to survive. We need to run, hide, protect, get some life kits because we might die from the environment, suffocation, hunger, thirst, attacks of wild animals, health conditions via climate change. It could be traps. We should also keep guard on the word of the day and its information because it will only be pronounced twice every after three days, no time specified.

One word is for everyone!

Everyone in each district thought this is just an ordinary spelling bee competition that is usually done on top but this is a competition of a lifetime in which life will be the rice and the prize. We need to spell... and beat them via its rules.

As our hearts beat fast, a countdown started to take over. 60 Seconds and the five of us looked at each other. I want to go out of the disk but it will just open after the countdown. We started to shout like we have different ideas on what to do, we are panicking and I know Ambassador Hugo is laughing now looking at our reactions.

As soon as the countdown stops, Mikey's voice engulfs the vast Word Arena.

"The word of the day is WELTANSCHAUUNG, It is a German word that literally means "world view"; it combines Welt ("world") with Anschauung ("view"), which ultimately derives from the Middle High German verb schouwen "to look at" or "to see". It can be various belief systems, religions, ideologies, and science. Example sentence; It is illuminating just to know Ambassador Hugo's energetic conclusion and then move slowly into its utopian dimensions of Maharliakas' Weltanschauung."

There's a problem in the sentence. How dare they call this a utopia when it's a dystopia? Now, the big problem was that I can hear a "V" in its first letter. Pronunciation might be deceiving! And the tone, morphology, phonology, phonetics!

But I think we are included in the "Spell" category today. I know there's a G on its last letter but I don't want to die. I don't want any of us from District G to be eliminated.

As our glass cylinder opens, all tributes started to run towards the Patag center to get some bags... for protection.

And everyone started to beat each other until they'll be eliminated.

Ulap, Token, Vani, Keithwarth, and I—the five hopes of District G, of Grass, shall let the letters let us... to live.

And Giovanni, my Giovanni. I love him... because he is part of the team.